Learn how to make sense of Brussels’ new tangled fee net

Good morning. A scoop to start out: The EU’s outgoing competitors chief Margrethe Vestager has warned an overhaul of the bloc’s merger guidelines would open a “Pandora’s box”, in a sideswipe at plans for her newly-announced successor to rethink the bloc’s antitrust laws.

Right this moment, the EU’s Dutch commissioner provides us his tackle the new-look fee introduced yesterday, and our Berlin staff stories on Friedrich Merz lastly saying his bid to be the following German chancellor.

Spider’s net

Linking up, going hand-in-hand: that’s the key change within the new European Fee introduced yesterday, in line with the (re)minted Dutch commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, write Alice Hancock and Andy Bounds.

Context: Ursula von der Leyen introduced the names and portfolios of her new commissioners yesterday, lining up six govt vice-presidents overseeing 20 commissioners — many with overlapping tasks. Our buddies at Politico have made a helpful chart.

Hoekstra, a member of von der Leyen’s centre-right European Folks’s celebration, has proved himself a loyal foot soldier for the European Fee president. He was rewarded with a second time period as local weather, web zero and clear development commissioner.

The previous Dutch finance minister, who may even have accountability for taxation, will report to 2 govt vice-presidents, the Spanish socialist Teresa Ribera in command of competitiveness and the French liberal Stéphane Séjourné, who will head up industrial coverage.

The tangle of political allegiances shouldn’t be an issue, Hoekstra mentioned: “I come from a country where working together across party lines is essential.”

“My view has always been that our job is to fix the large problems for Europeans, and they don’t care at all about small politics and the things unfortunately we preoccupy ourselves with too much. They care about delivery.”

Which means intertwining local weather coverage “much more firmly together with the whole domain of the economy, industry, innovation [and] tax”, Hoekstra mentioned. “That is the step change, that is the watershed element in the approach of this commission.”

However which means a number of commissioners have a couple of boss, and coverage areas reminiscent of sustainability are cut up amongst numerous fiefdoms.

“It’s more complicated in the sense that you have a lot of cross-links . . . but it actually reflects the reality that we need to have policies that are overall co-ordinated,” a senior fee official mentioned.

Extra sceptical observers famous that the overlaps had been to von der Leyen’s benefit, on condition that they strengthen her position as the final word choice maker.

One EU diplomat famous that whereas she had given massive European nations vice-president posts, she had put in “loyal henchmen” reminiscent of Hoekstra beneath them to supervise the “meaty bits” of coverage implementation.

Chart du jour: Cold and hot

Though air-con accounts for 4 per cent of greenhouse gasoline emissions, shoppers are more and more choosing it, writes Lex.

Worthy opponents

When Friedrich Merz lastly introduced he was operating because the centre-right chancellor candidate in Germany’s nationwide election subsequent 12 months, Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats breathed a sigh of reduction, write Man Chazan and Gideon Rachman.

Context: The SPD, which is at the moment polling at simply 15 per cent, approach behind Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU) on 33 per cent, has little probability of profitable the Bundestag election scheduled for September subsequent 12 months. However many within the celebration are satisfied that if it involves a duel between Merz and the incumbent, Scholz will prevail.

“Merz has no government experience at all,” mentioned Nils Schmid, the SPD’s overseas affairs spokesman. “And he’s also got a very short fuse. I’m sure we can beat him.”

The large worry amongst Social Democrats had been that it wouldn’t be Merz operating because the centre-right’s candidate for chancellor however Hendrik Wüst, prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia. However he introduced earlier this week that he wouldn’t be operating.

“Wüst would have been a lot more challenging for us,” mentioned Johannes Fechner, a senior SPD MP. Wüst is seen as a centrist all for social points — “not like Merz, a pro-business technocrat who just wants to shrink the welfare state”.

Certainly, since taking the helm of the CDU in 2022, Merz has labored laborious to maneuver it in a extra conservative, business-friendly path, away from the fuzzy liberalism of Angela Merkel, who gained an influence battle in opposition to him within the early 2000s and went on to rule Germany as chancellor from 2005-21.

However Merz’s critics assume he has gone too far. “He runs the risk of losing some of the Merkel voters,” mentioned Schmid.

Merz additionally polls badly amongst younger individuals and ladies, a lot of whom see him as a Nineteen Nineties man. “The next election will be about shaping the future with Olaf Scholz, or going back to the past with Friedrich Merz,” mentioned Dirk Wiese, one other senior SPD MP.

What to observe at present

1. European parliament debates floods, organised crime, Hungarian visa scheme and mpox.

2. Inaugural session of Turkish-Swedish ministerial safety talks in Ankara.

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